DNA ties jeans to suspect in Dudley murder

Monday

Mar 18, 2013 at 2:00 PMMar 18, 2013 at 9:51 PM

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A DNA profile matching Aaron A. Gibeault's was found on a pair of blue jeans recovered by police from the home of Jose E. Colon, Mr. Gibeault's accused killer, a Worcester Superior Court jury was told today.

Marisa Roe, who formerly worked as a DNA chemist at the state police crime laboratory, testified that forensic testing she performed in 2006 showed that a genetic profile derived from a yellow stain on a pair of blue jeans investigators seized from an apartment at 15 Oxford Ave. in Dudley, where Mr. Colon was living, matched Mr. Gibeault's DNA profile.

Ms. Roe said the chances of such a match occurring at random were “one in 20.9 quadrillion” in the Caucasian population.

Mr. Colon, 29, is on trial on a murder charge in the slaying of the 18-year-old Mr. Gibeault, whose battered body was discovered near railroad tracks off Oxford Avenue in Dudley on July 23, 2005. Mr. Gibeault died from blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds.

Kristin Wilson of Webster testified earlier in the trial that she was with Mr. Colon, Mr. Gibeault and others in the area where Mr. Gibeault's body was found either late on the night of July 22, 2005, or early the next morning. She said she saw Mr. Colon throw a rock at Mr. Gibeault that struck him in the face.

Mr. Gibeault, who was intoxicated, fell to the ground after being struck and Mr. Colon continued to throw rocks at him, according to Ms. Wilson, who said she left the area a short time later.

Ms. Wilson said she saw Mr. Colon several hours later with reddish stains on his shirt and jeans. She testified that Mr. Colon washed his clothing at a self-service laundry and that the stains turned yellow.

State Police Sgt. Michael Sampson testified Friday that he recovered a pair of jeans with a yellow stain on the lower right leg portion during a July 25, 2005, search of an apartment at 15 Oxford Ave. in Dudley where Mr. Colon was staying. Sgt. Sampson said he found the jeans under a couch in the living room of the one-bedroom apartment.

Under cross-examination by Mr. Colon's lawyer, Calvin C. Carr, Sgt. Sampson agreed that there were other civilians present in the apartment at the time of the search and that he was not certain to whom the seized jeans belonged.

Dr. Richard J. Evans, a pathologist called to the stand by Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Bennett this afternoon, testified that Mr. Gibeault died as a result of blunt head trauma and stab wounds.

Dr. Evans, who retired from the state chief medical examiner's office in 2009, but still works part-time for the office on a contractual basis, said he did not perform the autopsy on Mr. Gibeault, but based his opinion on the cause of death on his review of autopsy photographs and the report of Dr. Monica Smiddy, who did the autopsy at the medical examiner's office in Boston.

Dr. Evans testified that Mr. Gibeault suffered multiple complex skull fractures, blunt traumatic injuries to his face, two stab wounds to his back and two stab wounds to his chest.When asked by Mr. Bennett about red and black areas surrounding the wounds to Mr. Gibeault's head and face as depicted in autopsy photos, Dr. Evans said they indicated that Mr. Gibeault was alive when the injuries were inflicted.

Under cross-examination by Mr. Carr, Dr. Evans acknowledged that he did not have any hands-on involvement with Mr. Gibeault's autopsy, but said he was performing other duties in the room where it was conducted and had a recollection that Dr. Smiddy asked him to examine some of Mr. Gibeault's wounds.

Judge Richard T. Tucker, who is presiding over Mr. Colon's trial, told the jurors at the close of today's evidence that the trial would not resume until Wednesday because of a snowstorm predicted for tomorrow.